1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing apparatus with a built-in storage medium, which is effectively applied to apparatuses with built-in hard disks or large-capacity semiconductor memories capable of recording/reproducing information.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a recording/reproducing apparatus which is effectively applied to apparatuses capable of simultaneously operating mediums such as hard disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs).
Particularly in the present invention, when a temporary interruption operation input is supplied during on-air display, an on-air signal is automatically continued to be stored in a built-in storage medium. When a temporary interruption operation is canceled, information from a time of interruption can be displayed for a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in image compression techniques, at present, a DVD standard has been proposed in which an internationally standardized moving image coding expert group (MPEG2) system is used, and further, an AC3 audio compression system is employed.
In accordance with an MPEG2 system layer, this standard supports the MPEG2 system in a dynamic image compression system, and supports the AC3 audio compression system and MPEG audio compression system in a sound compression system. Furthermore, sub picture data constituted by compressing a run length of bit map data can be treated as subtitles of movies, karaoke, and the like. Additionally, in this standard, regarding the playback apparatus, control data (navigation pack) for special playback such as fast-forwarding and reversing is additionally constituted. Moreover, in the standard, standards ISO9660 and micro UDF are supported, so that disk data can be read by a computer.
Furthermore, as the standard of media, subsequent to the standard of DVD-ROM as media of DVD-video, the DVD-RAM standard (4.7 GB) has also been completed, and DVD-RAM drives are becoming popular computer peripherals.
Additionally, at present, a DVD video standard which utilizes DVD-RAM and realizes a system capable of recording/reproducing information in real time, that is, a real time recording (RTR)-DVD standard is being completed, and a verification operation is also scheduled to end in the near future. The standard is developed based on the DVD video standard now on the market. Furthermore, a file system corresponding to the RTR-DVD is also standardized.
On the other hand, a system is also considered in which a hard disk drive (HDD) built into the recording/reproducing apparatus is utilized to record/reproduce a broadcast signal. In the hard disk drive, data of 20 G to 100 Gbytes or more can be recorded.
As described above, with the progress of image compression techniques, a recording/reproducing apparatus has been developed in which an information storage medium (DVD, hard disk, semiconductor memory) can effectively be utilized for recording a broadcast signal, and the like in real time.
(1) Here, the following operation modes of the apparatus are considered.
(1a) The broadcast signal (or a reproduction signal from another medium) is inputted into the recording/reproducing apparatus, and a display signal for a monitor is derived from the recording/reproducing apparatus. Additionally, the recording/reproducing apparatus records the broadcast signal (or the reproduction signal from another medium) into a built-in storage medium in response to an operation input.
(1b) The broadcast signal (or the reproduction signal from another medium) is inputted into the recording/reproducing apparatus, and the display signal for the monitor is derived from the recording/reproducing apparatus. In this case, the broadcast signal (or the reproduction signal from another medium) is not recorded into the built-in storage medium. This situation occurs when the signal is a copy prohibition signal.
(2) However, there is a problem in the operation mode described above in (1b), for example, when a user views a drama. For example, when there are interruptions such as a phone call, temporary visitor, and toilet time, the user has to temporarily leave a seat in front of a display. In this case, the user misses the drama for a certain time. Particularly, with the interruptions during display of the broadcast signal (on-air display), when the user returns to the seat, the drama has proceeded, and the user cannot understand a middle part of the drama in some cases. Particularly, when there are interruptions midway in important scenes of programs such as a detective drama, a live baseball game and the like, the user is dissatisfied. Moreover, with a pay program, the user, having missed the program for a certain time, is particularly dissatisfied.